Our Team
Creators
Ariele Mortkowitz
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Ariele Mortkowitz is passionate about the ways women* interact with their faith and their community and has dedicated herself to the pursuit of fulfilling female spiritual and communal experiences. She created the Agam Center in 2016, establishing a Jewish communal home for women's spirituality, wellness, ritual, and education. Further committed to creating more unique spaces for women in Judaism, Ariele founded SVIVAH, where she gets to "collect" inspirational teachers, healers, counselors, and guides devoted to improving the lives of women and then share them with the audience of Jewish women* that has been waiting for them. She received certification in Spiritual Entrepreneurship from Clal and Columbia Business School, is a member of the Kenissa Spiritual Communities Cohort, and is an inaugural participant in the JWI Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project for Executive Leadership. She has a background in nonprofit development focused on strategic planning, organizational growth, and culture creation. Ariele is also a JOFA/YCT/Maharat-certified premarital educator and a longtime mikvah ritual guide. Ariele lives with her family in Washington, DC where she is continually amazed by all she gains from the incredible women around her.
Rabbanit Aliza Sperling
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Rabbanit Aliza Sperling is part of the faculty at Yeshivat Maharat and teaches Talmud at the Maharat-Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Beit Midrash Program. In addition to being SVIVAH’s educational leader and director of HerTorah, she has also served as a Hartman research fellow and a Wexner faculty member. She received her ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and a JD from NYU Law School. She also authored a halachic analysis of whether a blind person may read Torah for the collective in Braille. She lives with her husband and four children in Riverdale, NY. You can reach Rabbanit Sperling here.
Read more about HerTorah here.
Rabbanit Dalia Davis
DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL EDUCATION
Dalia Davis is a Jewish educator and artist who is passionate about creating opportunities for healing and spiritual growth. She graduated from Yeshivat Maharat’s Advance Kollel, majored in Jewish History and Dance at Barnard College and studied in Israel at Nishmat. Dalia also received an M.A. in Jewish Education from Y.U. and a certificate in Talmud and Halacha from GPATS.
Dalia has enjoyed a variety of Jewish educational opportunities. She has served as Rosh Beit Midrash for Merkavah Women’s Torah Institute in Berkeley, taught Melton courses in Springfield, MA, and served as Jewish dance educator for the Foundation for Jewish Camps. Currently, she also teaches Judaic studies at Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, is designing a youth curriculum for Congregation Darchei Noam, and serves as a research fellow for M2: Institute for Experiential Jewish Education.
She has created new initiatives inspired by the needs of the Jewish community and her desire to offer opportunities for growth and healing. Dalia created Beit Midrash in Motion, a fully embodied approach to Jewish learning, and has led workshops at various conferences including Limmud and NewCaje. She also co-founded Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Journeys, and serves as its spiritual leader. She authored Fertility Journeys: A Jewish Healing Guide for Mayyim Hayyim, and has designed and led programming to support those struggling to grow their families.
Dalia’s newest creation is Ye’ud: Making Life’s Liminal Moments Truly Sublime. Through this work she is creating community, offering pastoral support, and using her passions for Jewish text and the arts to support people along their life journeys.
Guidance Team
Board of Directors
SVIVAH is first-and-foremost a lay-led collective. From its start, it has been an exercise in responsiveness; seeking to uncover, understand, validate, and explore the varying needs and interests of women along their Jewish life journeys. While we do have a group of passionate and committed creators and guides, each member of the Guidance Team considers herself a follower rather than a leader - beholden to the larger community of women and devoted to representing the voices of our collective to the best of her abilities. Our growing Guidance Team commits to being comprised of representatives of our entire collective, ensuring that everyone has a seat at the table in our community. Reach them at any time at TalkToUs@gmail.com if you have suggestions or would like to be involved.
ANDREA DECK
Andrea Deck is a DC native who currently works with HoneymoonIsrael, helping to make the Jewish community more accessible to couples around the DMV. She is a passionate supporter of Jewish women in the area- serving on the board of SVIVAH and JWI to connect more deeply to an incredible and diverse community of Jewish women.
Dalia Caplan
Dalia is the Senior Director of Learning and Evaluation at UpStart. She lives in Denver with her family and brings her significant experience in the world of Jewish communal entrepreneurship to SVIVAH.
"What I love about the vision of SVIVAH is that now more than ever, it is crucial for women to have safe spaces to gather, share stories and connect deeply. SVIVAH provides all of that and more with such talented educators. It is an organization that provides for our deepest, most unspoken needs."
Elisheva Thompson
Elisheva has an extensive background in marketing and communications, specializing in brand strategy, digital marketing, and design. An LA native and a Jewish spirituality enthusiast living in Minneapolis, she is passionate about giving Jewish communities a voice and an online presence. She is the founder and CEO of culture/shift, a consultancy which provides marketing, design, and systems solutions to mission-driven organizations. Previously, she served as the Director of Brand & Marketing at UpStart, and as Communications Director at Congregation Tikvat Jacob Beth Torah.
SARAH ALLEN
Sarah Allen is the Director of Board Relations at JDC. She has an impressive career history within the Jewish community, working with organizations like Hillel International and the American Associates of Ben Gurion University. Sarah has been with JDC since 2012, working in both their Jerusalem and New York offices. Sarah comes to Svivah with an expertise in Lay/Professional relationships, management and supervision, and curiosity. Sarah has a passion for community involvement. In New York she was an active part of a community walking group during the pandemic and helped establish a community fridge to provide food for those in need in her neighborhood. In Jerusalem, where Sarah lived for 20 years, she was an early and active member of Shira Chadasha, volunteered as a Big Sister, and was involved in dialogue and activities between Israelis and Palestinians.
Rebecca Leicht
Rebecca believes in using the myriad moments of daily life as generative departure points from which to think critically about and act intentionally in the world around us. She is thrilled to help foster SVIVAH as a member of its leadership team and is grateful to be part of SVIVAH'S beloved community. Rebecca lives in New York City with her husband, two sons, and their dog (who is probably a muppet). Better said: she is surrounded by testosterone.
SHARI KLEINER
“Helping to build a sustaining community of Jewish women is as important to me as it is selfish. I am my happiest when I have a place like Svivah that gets my mind and heart and works hard to nurture both.” Shari recently relocated to DC from Boston.
Acquired Wisdom
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
One of the primary goals at SVIVAH is to bring together women from various points on the Jewish woman’s life journey so that we can all learn from each other and gain strength from the experience of others. It is precisely for this reason that we continually consult with our advisory committee. We consider ourselves so blessed to be able to learn from and engage with experts who have so much knowledge and experience to share. Their expertise offers insight to our community of women in a variety of ways, lifting us all up with their wisdom in the process.